A wireless communication technology has been recently developed as an important means for easily transferring and sharing various types of data, such as sounds, images and pictures. With the development of the wireless communication technology, information has been diversified and a communication speed has been improved.
With the trend of digital convergence, electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets provide various functions. For example, services based on functions of communication technologies, such as digital multimedia broadcasting, (DMB), global positioning system (GPS), Bluetooth (BT), radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) may be provided. To provide such services, an electronic device may be provided with one or more antennas. The electronic device may radiate radio waves (signals) to free space (e.g., air) or may receive radio waves from the free space using the antennas, thereby performing wireless communication.
Currently, it is a trend to decrease the thicknesses of electronic devices, such as smartphones or tablets and increase the sizes of screens of the electronic devices. A thin and large screen may satisfy a user, but may be vulnerable to external impact. In order to improve impact resistance, tempered front glass or reinforced plastic may be used for an external structure of an electronic device. In the case where a metallic case is used to improve durability, the performance of an antenna installed in the electronic device may be degraded. Furthermore, even though a part of the metallic case is used as an antenna, the antenna performance may be degraded.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device in which a metallic case is used as an antenna according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a rear surface of an electronic device 100 may include an upper metal area 101, an intermediate metal area 103, and a lower metal area 105. Furthermore, the electronic device 100 may include a segmentation structure 111 for dividing the upper metal area 101 from the intermediate metal area 103, and a segmentation structure 113 for dividing the intermediate metal area 103 from the lower metal area 105. In addition, a rear camera 120 may be exposed on the rear surface.
According to the electronic device illustrated in FIG. 1, the upper metal area 101 may operate as a radiator of an antenna. The segmentation structure 111 may be designed so that the upper metal area 101 has an appropriate length or area for receiving a signal of a target frequency band. However, if a part (e.g., a finger or a cheek) of a body of a user contacts the segmentation structure 111 (or the segmentation structure 113), the performance of the antenna may be degraded. For example, due to the body contacting the segmentation structure 111, the upper metal area 101 may be electrically connected to the intermediate metal area 103, thereby changing the characteristic of the antenna. The changed antenna characteristic may not be suitable for transmitting/receiving the signal of the target frequency band.
Therefore, a need exists for an electronic device to which a metal case is applied, wherein the electronic device may have the same performance as that obtained when the metal case is not used or improved performance, and may minimize the degradation of the performance when a human body contacts the case.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.